I was as mixed as anyone on the five-year time jump that took place between the first and second seasons. But say what you will about unresolved year one story points being swept under the Cave rug; there's no denying that moving the action ahead half a decade helped creators Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti expand on where the Young Justice characters were going and what they could do with them from a writing standpoint. The pitfalls of superhero stagnancy -- same old, same old -- were avoided quite handily this way.

Robin was now Nightwing. Superboy and Miss Martian were no longer together. Aqualad's girlfriend had joined the team, died and he had turned bad as a result. A whole new lineup of members were part of the team! And the list of changes and additions goes on… It was a controversial move, and as I said, it didn't always work, but looking at the long game for the show it was a clear indication that the writers wanted to keep evolving these characters. And this wasn't only happening in conjunction with the five-year jump -- look at supporting characters like Mal or Adam Strange, who went from normal folks to heroes as circumstances caused them to change.

If a Season 3 had happened, I wonder if we would've jumped ahead again? To a third generation of Young Justicers? Nightwing could've even been the new Batman at that point!

The Universe

Weisman and Vietti said from the get-go that they planned to mine the DC universe for all that it's worth, and they weren't joking. By the end of Season 2, the team itself had about 20 members, then there was the extended Justice League roster of grown-ups, the core bad guy group known as the Light, various henchmen, aliens, Beetles, heroes long dead but not forgotten… even Marvin and Wendy!

Exit Theatre Mode

From highly recognizable fan favorites to obscure for-the-fanboy-only inclusions, the depth and breadth of characters who showed up on this show was impressive. But it wasn't just the people of the DC universe, it was also the places. From the Cave to the Watchtower to the Hall of Justice -- cleverly paying homage to the old Super Friends cartoon while also giving a logical reason for the latter's existence -- our heroes had plenty of cool hangouts. Exotic lands like Atlantis and Bialya were visited too, of course. And this season the show also started to really dig into the various alien worlds out there -- not the least of which was the mechanical Warworld itself -- all culminating in something that we'd been waiting for all season: the reveal of Darkseid. Alas, we will never get to see the story that would've brought Young Justice into direct contact with that Big Bad of the DC universe.

The Humor

True, it often fell to the Flashes -- be it Kid or Impulse -- to keep the funny going during more dire circumstances, but all of the characters on this show were given to clever dialogue that always was in keeping with their particular style. Heck, even in that last episode when he was about to die, Kid Flash was able to make us laugh.